Five UB inventions that could make life better for tomorrow’s consumers

Five UB inventions that could make life better for tomorrow’s consumers

Paras Prasad, executive director of UB's Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics, is among inventors who developed nanoparticles that could improve the way films and resins are cured, or hardened into a solid.

“As a major public research university, we want to ensure that the innovations of our many inventors benefit society as much as possible.”

Robert Genco, vice provost

University at Buffalo

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Paras Prasad, executive director of UB's Institute for Lasers,
Photonics and Biophotonics, is among inventors who developed
nanoparticles that could improve the way films and resins are
cured, or hardened into a solid.

Mira Edgerton, research professor of oral biology, is developing
a therapy that has shown promise for fighting fungal infections in
the mouth.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Submarine-like body sensors and a new way
to snuff out fungal infections are among the highlights from a year
of inventing at the University at Buffalo.

In 2013, UB filed provisional patent applications — the
precursor for a regular patent application — for 31
discoveries made by its researchers.

Moving forward, the scientists and engineers behind them will
work with UB’s Office of Science, Technology Transfer and
Economic Outreach (STOR) to bring their discoveries to the market
— and make life better for consumers.

“As a major public research university, we want to ensure
that the innovations of our many inventors benefit society as much
as possible,” said Robert Genco, the UB vice provost who
oversees STOR. “That means taking discoveries out of the lab
and into the real world, and we provide startup support, research
and development funds and other resources to help our faculty and
students achieve this.”

Ultrasonic Body Sensors

Like a fleet of tiny submarines, tiny sensors inside the human
body could employ ultrasonic waves to talk to one another and treat
disease. UB engineers working to develop this technology say using
sonar makes sense: The body is 65 percent water, and ultrasounds
travel through water more efficiently than radio waves. It's why
the Navy uses sonar for deep-sea communication.

So far, through extensive simulation and experimentation, the UB
team has designed an algorithm that maximizes the efficiency with
which implantable devices talk to one another using ultrasound. The
potential future payoff is huge: In diabetes patients, for example,
such devices could monitor blood glucose levels and send signals
telling implantable pumps when to release insulin.

UB scientists have come up with a new
way to fight gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease that
— left untreated — can lead to life-threatening ectopic
pregnancies and infant blindness. One of gonorrhea’s quirks
is that people can get it many times: Neisseria gonorrhoeae,
the offending bacterium, disables some of the best weapons the
human body deploys against the germ.

To defeat this defense mechanism, researchers turned to
Interleukin-12, a protein known to stimulate an immune response
against tumors that normally suppress immunity. When mice received
intravaginal doses of microspheres loaded with Interleukin-12, the
animals kicked their gonorrhea infection in days — and could
not be reinfected a month later. The team has now expanded its
work, using the spheres to deliver antibodies that neutralize two
compounds — Interleukin-10 and TGF-beta —that help
N. gonorrhoeae block human immune response.

Fungal infections in the mouth, known as thrush or oral
candidiasis, can cause great difficulty in eating and swallowing in
people with weak immune systems, as well as infants and
children.

To add to the arsenal of weapons for fighting these infections,
UB dental researchers are developing a new therapy. The treatment
marries derivatives of histatin-5 — an antifungal protein
— to chemical compounds that encourage fungal cells to absorb
the derivatives.

The remedy killed oral fungus in the mouth efficiently, working
against both Candida albicans and Candida
glabrata, two of the most common culprits behind disease. With
drug-resistant species emerging and the number of immunocompromised
patients increasing, new treatments could play a critical role in
stopping fungal attacks.

Inventor: Mira Edgerton, Department of Oral Biology

Better LEDs

When an LED bulb glows white, what you’re actually seeing
is a blue LED shining in combination with compounds called
phosphors that glow red and yellow — a mix that produces
white.

To improve this technology, UB engineers have crafted tiny
crystals called quantum dots that emit both red and yellow light
more effectively than traditional materials. Though other
scientists have also created quantum dots, their crystals lose
efficiency at the high temperature and light levels required to
operate LEDs; the UB quantum dots do neither.

As an added bonus, the new crystals are made from readily
obtainable and non-toxic indium phosphide. This could be a boon to
manufacturers, as today’s phosphors generally contain
rare-earth elements whose price and availability are often
unstable.

Shining ultraviolet light on certain inks, resins and films can
cut down the time it takes them to cure, or harden, into a solid.
This is because they contain particles called photoinitiators that
trigger hardening upon exposure to the light.

A new UB technology tackles this problem: Scientists at
UB’s Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics (ILPB)
have crafted nanoparticles that convert innocuous near-infrared
light into ultraviolet radiation. These particles can be embedded
inside films and resins, and then activated for UV curing by an
external source of near-infrared light. This would not only prevent
exposure to ozone, but also allow for curing of thicker materials,
as near-infrared light can penetrate 3-D objects more deeply than
UV light.

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